Exactly what does this mean?
This website essentially is peddling a birth-control pill that allows you only one period every three months, which is about four periods a year. Does that sound healthy? Should we be meddling with nature so much? Should women really experiment like this with their bodies? Scariest of all, what animals have the developers of these pills experimented on to get the results they've got?
I, for one, have never wished I never had a period. I have all the usual annoying things that go with a period but I've never wished it didn't exist. Maybe I rejoice in my femininity too much, maybe I love everything about being a woman. Maybe I am resistant to change, but I honestly don't believe in meddling with things like this.
What do you say?
Request: New readers, could you please go here and put down your stories as well?
* I did some quick, lazy research and here's what I found about the side effects of this.
What are the possible side effects of Seasonique?
Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Stop using Seasonique and call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:
sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body;
sudden headache, confusion, pain behind the eyes, problems with vision, speech, or balance;
chest pain or heavy feeling, pain spreading to the arm or shoulder, nausea, sweating, general ill feeling;
a change in the pattern or severity of migraine headaches;
nausea, stomach pain, low fever, loss of appetite, dark urine, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes);
swelling in your hands, ankles, or feet; or
symptoms of depression (sleep problems, weakness, mood changes).
Less serious side effects may include:
mild nausea, vomiting, bloating, stomach cramps;
breast pain, tenderness, or swelling;
freckles or darkening of facial skin;
increased hair growth, loss of scalp hair;
changes in weight or appetite;
problems with contact lenses;
vaginal itching or discharge;
changes in your menstrual periods, decreased sex drive; or
headache, nervousness, dizziness, tired feeling.
This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Tell your doctor about any unusual or bothersome side effect.
posted by Sandhya Menon @ 12:36
22 Comments:
This really is crazy! Sometimes I think the need for ease in life, and the comfort-over-health attitude in the world today is making us paranoid. On the other hand, maybe most people are just being stupid, and being fooled into believing a lot of things are good for them, which are actually terrible!
Ouch. why would you want to put off having three to five days of discomfort a month at the risk of such problems?
Did you get the "side-effects" off the same website? 'cos they're trying VERY hard to avoid saying words like paralysis and heart attack :-/
I don't enjoy my period (duh) but then you never know what the long-term effects of doing something like this are. It's safest to let things be.
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No. This is impossible! I'm sure it's not healthy!!
I know a girl suffering from irregular periods for 6 years.. two periods a month and sometimes her periods last around 30 days (well she once had a 44-day period when she was 18, believe it or not!) She went on the pill (Jasmine) and found that it just made it worse. She had too heavy bleedings that made her unable to do anything. Poor girl.. she went through a lot of embarrassing situations (in front of people) because of her damn periods.
The pill you're talking about... no... I don't think it would be good.. although that girl would love to try them!
Went ahead and read a bit more about this pill. Chemically, its just like any other combined contraceptive pill. The added feature is the low dose extra hormones for the 22nd-28th day of every month.I seriously dont know why people would want to do that though.I mean, we dont have time even for our monthly periods now?
As for the side-effects, almost 90% of the listed side-effects are the same as most other popular contraceptives. Although not every individual suffers any/many of the listed side-effects, the risk is pretty high indeed. Also, manufacturers have to save their posterior and so they list every remotely-possible side-effects. Having said that,I'd still not choose to go this road.Its not worth it.
And I better not talk about the morning-after-pill abuse.
PS: I study Pharmacology and Bio-Pharmaceutics and work part-time in a Clinical Pharmacy in Ireland.
its nothing but a pain not getting your period either! ask me. thanks to PCOs my periods are so irregular that sometimes i forget i CAN and must have them!
and with it comes lot of weight and fertility issues too! why would someone wanna add this! geez!
I realize periods can be a pain (literally!), but like you, I've never really wished them away. The only reason probably is because it lets me attain a very blessed thing - motherhood. When I was newly married, the only piece of advice I got from my older sister was this: never ever ever use any chemical method of contraception. I've followed it to the dot. I've always believed that one should never try to alter one's natural bodily activities, periods being a very important one.
But then again, I hate it when Whisper wishes me a 'Happy Period' - still feel like taking a club to their collective heads. Happy, my foot.. when was cramps and discomfort anyone's idea of a happy anything!
-- CP
As RJDV expertly stated, most contraceptives have these symptoms. But of course, this does'nt make it right. After my delivery, my gynac in Bangalore had put me on contraceptive injections that had to be taken every 3 months. I took them thrice but they screwed up my periods real bad. Although it seems like a really good method of contraception, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. As you mentioned in the post, we shouldn't be meddling with nature so much.
Passionate Goof: Amen to everything you've said. It's so easy to be carried away by marketing drivel.
Chinkurli: I actually got the side effects off another website when I was researching that pill. :)And yes, that's wht they're trying hard to avoid saying :)
Non-Crowned Princess: Oh no! I feel terrible for your friend! And in my experience too, birth control pills have only screwed things for the worse! Welcome to the blog, how's the novel going? :)
RJDV: No, sorry, not time for a happy period. What century are you from?! :P Yeah, I used to be on the Pill a long time ago and read the leaflet as thoroughly as possible, so yes I recognised these as very similar to all other pills but they are stated a little more strongly than a regular pill. But my main issue with this post is the frequency at which your periods will come. It's odd. But I think Americans will do anything.
Mama-Mia: I hear you, sistah! Ex pcod sufferer. And boy, those pills do NO good.
CP: Welcome to the blog. :) Or did i do that in the previous post. Hahah.. have a happy period. I am sure a man thought up that copy. Good, solid advice from your sister. I hope you'll pass it along. I had my share of trouble with the pill.
Sumira: After my first baby, I went on the pill and lo and behold, already irregular period due to breastfeeding and I was 3 months (while still on the pill) pregnant with my second one while my first was 8 months and didn't know. I gave up on all kinds of pills that day. But one period in 3 months? Bizarre.
I love my Periods.Period.
3yrs ago when I'd just moved to Cork, I was living with my brother in this house that had just one bathroom.Some mornings when I fell asleep in the bathroom,he'd lose his patience.He'd be all ready for me to get out of the bathroom so he can use all the stern-looks that he practised while he waited.I'll come out and use the magic-word 'Periods' and he'll shut up and be all apologetic :D No, I dint lie. I actually had my periods.
And thanks to PMS and then the actual mensturating time,I'm allowed to be snappy,moody,bitchy for almost 10days every month. Would I want to miss it and make it a 3monthly ritual? Not at all!
PS: I'm so going to get eggs and tomatoes thrown at me after this!
From what I remember reading..and if you can trust my memory which I don't myself these days, all contraceptive pills suppress your periods. Meaning when you are taking them your body is not doing what it should naturally or whatever. The people who first came up with the pill wanted to keep the experience as near the same as what a women goes through naturally and hence made it so that you would actually have a period every 28 days. Otherwise how is it possible that everyone who is on the pill has a period on the 28th day when not every women is the same and not everyone’s cycle is the same.
So now, I think what someone is coming up with is to reduce the frequency to four a year. You can bet once this catches on you will see a pill which will give you no periods at all.
Definitely not the most exciting of things..and but definitely something I wouldn't do away with. LIke I often say, the best thing I enjoyed about pregnancy (apart from the pampering and getting away with mood swings and absurd demands) was the monthly period ritual.
But would I want it gone forever...NO. I've had my issues of irregular period, with my mom and a lot of others fearing about my fertility and prospects of turning mommy. Thankfully that's settled for now, with a smarty 1.6yr old son for proof. The irregularity continues but would I wish it away..NO. Can't understand why anyone would want to mess with their system to do away with a few months of padding.
LOL @ RJDV's comment on loving her period! Haha... that is so true! So many emotions can just be explained with one word. I hope my husband is not reading this.
RJDV: Well said, girl :) And no eggs and tomatoes, all the women who come here will totally agree. I've never had a negative attitude to my period you know?
Comfortablynam: Welcome to the blog. YOu know, that's exactly how this pill markets it, that what you get on a regular pill is not a natural one, it's a "pill period" so how does it make a difference if it comes every month, or once in three months. Hard to argue with that logic if you believe the pill period bit, what the hell is that?!
Sree: I am on the other side there. I actually missed my period (no pun intended) when I was pregnant. For me, it's one of the few routine things in my unstructured life, which I derive comfort from :)
Samira: :D Don't worry, i think this post has effectively dissected female mystique so much that we've scared off all my men readers :P
i'm so glad you did this. am tired of being the lone crusader against messing with your system. education doesnt guarantee you common sense, i see...
Heya!
So this pill has been on sale in the States for a few years now and when it came out i had all the same questions that you had. I do agree that this is messing with our systems so much but im fearful of all medication so much so that I am not even on a regular birth control pill.
Having said that, I do believe that all medications that are released today have its own set of side effecs, most of which are just as serious as the side effects of seasonique.Speaking from personal experience, in Asia as consumers and as patients, we are rarely educated about the side effects of our medication simply because our doctors do not deem it necessary. However, in the US, we get almost 4 pages of paperwork to read with every medication we take, advising about side effects, durg inteactions etc. It is my personal opinion that the fear of litigation facilitates this information. Here are the side effects (albeit milder than Seasoniue) of a popular drug in Asia, try and guess which one.
***** may give birth to serious and fatal side effects like racing heartbeat, reduced amount of urine, excessive tiredness, breathing trouble, closed throat, swollen lips, tongue, or face. Rush to your doctor as soon as you experience any of the following as these side effects may be detrimental.
Users of ***** quite often face side effects like reduced sexual drive, headache, dry, tickling cough, muscle cramps, numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, arms, or legs, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash. These side effects are known to be less harmful.
Side effects abdominal pain, high body temperature, tremors, hoarseness, yellow eyes or skin are rare but found. Don’t ignore any of the above-mentioned side effects and see a doctor as soon as possible.
The drug.... Avil:)
themadmomma: I know what you mean. When I went around saying -- for both my pregnancies -- that I wanted a natural birth, I had hoardes coming at me saying, are you crazy? I am opting for a c-section! And I was so surprised. I am not the kind to alter the course of nature as far as I can avoid doing it. It's a different matter that I HAD to have both my kids by c-sec. :(
Ubuntu: Wow, hmm. Somehow I am not surprised. And for the reasons that are above, I try and stay as far away from allopathy as I can. Do you know anti-biotics alone cause detrimental, even fatal, reactions is about 140,000 people in the US alone? I wouldn't have given the kids vaccinations if I could get away with it. But as it stands, vaccinations are on, but no anti-biotics or allopathy. And about the paperwork, really, that's something that the rest of the world could well adopt, except I worry about how much paper we're wasting because more than half the people won't read what's written on it.
This is crazy and also a very touchy topic. A sensitive issue that must be dealt with as per the situation's need. There may be someone incapable of raising a child at that stage in their life. At the time of doing what they did, they ought to have been careful and if protection did not help, that is just bad luck for them.But, if needed, the pill should be taken to prevent the birth of someone who will be looked on as a burden for the rest of his/her life.Read Prayer before birth-Louis Macneice. This is why I would even say something like this which is much against my ethics and morale. I would personally never be able to kill the life of my own child which would be living inside me.But then, I would also be careful and not let such a 'mistake' occur.
Rohini: See I have no issues with birth control at all, I have issues with people thinking it's okay to delay your period for months together and get it only once a quarter!
I agree with you on that. That's not right.Very sick and sad to be forced to do something like that!
I do not know how I ended up in your bog, but I like to very much. For a young 60 woman,i got mighty impressed. You provoke me, and ask questions. I like it.
God bless
Vetrimagal
http://dreamspaces.blogspot.com
I have been having Depo Ralovera injections every 3 months or so for more than 10 years and have been enjoying an almost period-free life thanks to it. I have had no bad side-effects and intend to keep having these injections for the rest of my fertile life. It's great! Periods are a pain. We don't need to have them to be feminine.
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